Ever since the beginning of the guerrilla war of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Turkey, the PKK has been labelled as ‘terrorist’ by the Turkish security forces, politics and media. Despite this, and in part due to the disproportionate use of violence and repression by the Turkish Armed Forces, its police, gendarmerie and state security, the PKK has become the main Kurdish organization in Turkey. As a result, it could count upon the long time understanding and sometimes even sympathy of various international political actors. For example, many European countries proved to be a safe haven for political refugees, so the PKK could thrive upon the support and solidarity networks that were built up abroad. However, the PKK has not been able to escape “the global war on terror” that was launched following the 9/11 attacks. Since 2002 the PKK has been labelled a ‘terrorist organization’ by the United States and the European Union too. This labelling has affected the PKK seriously. It forced its representatives in Europe into a permanent struggle to regain and sustain its legitimacy as well as that of its imprisoned leader Abdullah Öcalan. This paper will analyze the consequences of the terrorist label and its challenges to Kurdish nationalism by analyzing the different strategies PKK militants and supporters have used in order to clear the negative image of their movement and to reclaim what they consider to be their rights as a people. The material used to write this paper has been gathered by a considerable amount of field work in Europe and Turkey. The paper’s methodology will employ objective criteria as a means of content analysis of the sources to develop its thesis and reach its conclusions.